A Sacramento native, Kamilos, 47, is the son of a grocer. A job with a heating, ventilation and air conditioning supply company after high school got him interested in mechanical engineering, and he headed to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
A class in petroleum engineering led him to expand his interest, and he wound up with a dual major in mechanical and petroleum engineering. He graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in 1984.
Chevron provided summer jobs, starting Kamilos as a roustabout in the oil fields of Southern California. He advanced to oil field operator, assistant production engineer, and, when he graduated, field production engineer in Bakersfield.
Kamilos spent eight years with Chevron, and was promoted to the western regional group, in charge of California and Alaska oil operations.
Along the way, he learned the local, state and federal permit processes for new oil and gas expansion projects, a skill that would serve him well as a developer. In 1989, he earned a master's of business administration degree at St. Mary's College in Moraga.
Kamilos left the oil industry because the next step in his career would involve an overseas assignment, and he and his wife, Karen, decided they would rather stay in California. He and his wife and their 10-year-old daughter, Julia, live in Fair Oaks.
"I had my technical skills and an understanding of the permitting process," Kamilos said. He began managing real estate development projects in 1990.
"I've been fortunate. I've had quite a number of mentors," Kamilos said, listing among others Jack Sioukas, Buzz Oates, Frank Ramos, Al Montna, Axel Karlshoej and William Cummings, all Sacramento developers.
Kamilos splits his time between offices in Modesto, in Gold River near Sacramento and in Stockton.
In addition to the Crows Landing project, Kamilos is developing a 2,000-acre industrial park east of Sacramento International Airport; an 800-acre office and manufacturing park in Woodland; and a 4,000-acre residential, commercial and industrial development in Stockton.
Kamilos doesn't fit the stereotype of a developer, or an oil engineer, for that matter. He is soft-spoken and intellectual. He prefers to stay in the background and let his vision for a project take center stage.
Once he starts talking about a project, however, Kamilos becomes enthusiastic and animated. His engineering background is obvious as he discusses how the pieces of a complex project fit together, and he can discuss national freight transportation problems or state water issues in detail.
In what spare time he has, Kamilos likes to spend time with his family and read. He prefers history and biographies. Kamilos recently finished reading "An Ordinary Man," the autobiography of Paul Rusesabagina, who was the subject of the movie "Hotel Rwanda," and is reading the biography of Friedrich Hayek, an influential free-market economist.
